1. My Childhood Journey
By: Yasmin Ramos

2. Introduction
My journey through literacy begins as a young child learning two languages. My first language was Spanish and that was the only language I spoke at home. I thought that was the only language in the world at the time and that everyone spoke the same language. My views began to change as I was introduced to technology. My attention was grasped by the colorful moving images, but that wasn’t the only thing that astonished me. The characters were speaking in a way that I did not understand. This was when I received the sudden realization that Spanish wasn’t the only language in the world. Intrigued by this revelation, I wanted to understand what the characters in these cartoons and shows were saying. I learned to read the characters’ body language and face expressions. I began to feel the tone of the story by listening to the music in the background and observing how the characters’ tone of voice changed over a sequence of events. Using these clues, I went along with the story plot and observed the characters’ emotions. Watching television was like entering a different world, a secret place for me to understand a different language. This was my introduction to my second learned language, English.

3. Family Connection
With this newly found ability, I wanted to keep practicing and learning more every day. I would speak English to my younger brother in hopes that he would understand me and communicate back. It wasn’t until he started watching television with me, that he was able to read my body language, face expressions and tone of voice when speaking English to him. Soon enough, we were communicating in our own secret language. I would point to toys and we would talk to each other while playing. We would create make believe scenarios and he would follow my lead. I felt powerful in learning this new language and being able to share it with my brother. No one else knew what we were talking about. In a home of only Spanish speakers, we were the exception. But this was only the beginning, I was yet to face the challenges that came with learning a new language.

4. Pre-k
My first experience entering pre-k was quite frightening. I entered a world with other children that were my age and speaking the same language. I was relieved at the thought that I would be able to communicate and play with others just like how I did with my brother. But I soon realized that learning a new language was not always fun. I was placed in ESL for a week. Afterwards, I gradually learned how to understand what people were saying. But, I still struggled to communicate.

5. Language Barrier
Sometimes, language is used harshly, to scold people or to make fun of people. I interpreted my teacher’s tone of voice and body language negatively when she would scold me for doing something I wasn’t supposed to be doing. Language was used against me when a classmate would make fun of me with her choice of words. These obstacles made it difficult for me to stand up for myself. My shyness and fear kicked in with my limited language skills. I soon became scared to talk with the fear of not being understood. As my classmate continued to make fun of me, I took the courage to tell my teacher my situation, using body language. I pointed at the classmate and with little vocabulary, I made it clear I was not comfortable. She dismissed my attempts at communicating. At this point, I found it difficult to communicate using English. I reverted to using Spanish as my comfortable form of communicating. I was only comfortable communicating in Spanish to my parents to describe what was going on in class. Eventually, I learned to look past it and continued to strive to want to keep learning.

6. Writing Challenge
My next challenge was learning how to write. I remember writing as a difficult experience. I had a hard time spelling out my name and was constantly told to flip around the letters. I didn’t seem to remember to fix my mistakes. My parents noticed I was struggling to write properly. I was given a writing book with letters and numbers traced out. All I had to do was follow the lines and trace the letters and numbers. This method was used in hopes that I would remember how the letters and numbers are supposed to look like. I would fill out a page at a time. Every time I finished a page, I showed my father, and he always found mistakes. I got tired of constantly being told that I wasn’t writing correctly. I wanted to give up and I would cry. At this point in my life, I was discouraged from writing, but eventually writing became easier with time. Soon, I was introduced to another part of my journey that proved to not be so challenging.

7. Disney
As an escape from the struggles of writing and communicating, I fell in love with digital media. Like every child, I loved watching Disney movies and cartoons because of the characters’ personalities and the comical story plots. I was grasped into the bold colors and fast-moving images. The soundtracks always got me to get up and sing along no matter where I was. I was very emotional as a child and was always sucked into emotional scenes, especially when gloomy music was playing in the background. The same thing occurred during a cheerful scene; I would get wrapped up in the moment, but this time I would sing, clap, and get ready for more. I would often pretend to act out my favorite characters and make up my own scenes in my head. It made watching television more fun and personal to me.

8. Story books
Afterwards, my love for Disney movies blossomed into a love for books. My parents knew that I enjoyed watching Disney movies, so they would take me and my brother to the Disney store almost every weekend. I would always look forward to playing with the toys and seeing the movies play on the screen in the store. It wasn’t until my father caught my attention and showed me one of many Disney books, that I noticed the beautiful images on each page. He would tell me, “Look Yasmin! These books have your favorite characters. Look at how many stories are in this book! Do you want to take it home with you to look at them?”. I excitedly nodded my head and couldn’t wait to dig into the new world of reading.

9. Pathway to Success
Once I started gazing at the colorful pages, I was ecstatic to find that this new world of reading was much different than watching television. I was able to take my time to look at each page in my own pace. Because of reading, I was able to learn English much quicker with ease. I was encouraged to read the stories out loud. This way, I was able to practice pronouncing the words and could catch on to my mistakes. I gradually started improving as I continued reading orally. Reading also allowed me to practice communicating. When stories would provide lines from more than one character, I would practice going back and forth as if I were role playing. Because of the bright and colorful images, I was motivated to draw the scenes and color them in. When I started drawing and coloring, I would also write under the pictures. I would even practice writing my signature. Soon enough, I was able to finally overcome my challenges of speaking and writing with the help of Disney movies and books.

10. Goosebumps!
As I got older and entered Elementary, I drifted away from story books and started digging deeper into short stories. Now that I was comfortable with the English language, I no longer struggled to read longer passages. I was excited to expand my reading by taking interest in books that were more out of the ordinary. The Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine caught my attention the most as soon as I glanced at the titles and front covers. At that time, I was fascinated by horror and mystery. The Goosebumps Series looked to be a perfect match for me. The first Goosebumps book that I read was called, Goosebumps: Let’s Get Invisible. To my surprise, once I started reading my first Goosebumps book, I could not put the book down. I was intrigued by the scary and mysterious plot. The book involved a mirror that could make you go invisible and bring another version of yourself to life. I was so intrigued by the plot, that I finished the book in two days. This was when my love for reading really blossomed, and I was able to get a taste of what genres appealed to me the most.

11. Esperanza Rising
Once I entered Middle school, I was having a hard time figuring out who I was and what I wanted my goals to be. It was at this time that I found one of my most memorable books to date. Esperanza Rising, by Pam Muñoz Ryan, tells a story of a girl who went from living in riches to rags when her family is forced to flee from Mexico to work in the camps of California. This was one of my first novels that I was excited to dig into because for once, I was able to relate to the character in a way that was personal for me. The main character, Esperanza, was Mexican and struggled with feeling accepted. I also struggled fitting in to society because like her, I was Mexican and had a language barrier. This novel motivated me to accept my heritage and overcome the struggles that came with being in an unfamiliar environment.

12. Conclusion
Because of my love for reading, I was able to blossom into the person that I am now. I no longer struggle to speak and write in English. My interest in reading has grown from story books from my childhood to novels that relate to my personal life. Even though I struggled at first to communicate and write, reading was my escape. Instead of being a challenging activity, it turned out to be my stepping stone to overcoming my challenges. I don’t read as much as I used to, but I do write more than ever before. To my surprise, my writing has improved drastically. Gone are the days where I struggled to trace words and couldn’t convey my message across. Through the help of reading and television, I was motivated to get out of my comfort zone and be comfortable with who I am and where I come from. The challenges that I faced didn’t stop me from working hard to improve my writing, my speech, and my reading. I continue learning and growing, as well as facing new challenges every day that impact how I view myself and how I view literacy.